Looking for a Small Group Activity?
Give yourself and friends, family, and colleagues a unique experience - a small group photo hunt on the streets of New York City. During a hands-on technical and compositional photo walk for one person or a small group, learn practical tips and tricks for improving your images of people, places, and things. Get ready to work in a creative space!
Visit Spark Your Creativity photo experiences options for ideas on customizing your photo hunt.
Christmas in New York City | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
The Personal Project
To expand the imagination we recommend a personal project. You'll learn to flex some creative muscle and align your heart and mind with intuition for some powerful results. Take some time out of your multi-tasking schedule and try focusing 100% on your personal projects, even for a few hours a week. The assignment may lead to firing up your creativity.
As to a personal project, you may choose printmaking. Recycle your archived images. Select a class in photopolymer intaglio printmaking to translate the tangible and intangible. Collage work invites awareness.
The Personal Project | photopolymer intaglio monoprint ©2014-2023 roberta fineberg
In response to the quote “No art exists that isn't autobiographical” (from Quaderni Azzurri, or Blue Notebooks, by Aldo Rossi, the Italian architect and poet of the visible), RF approaches collages. "‘Oh, the webs we weave’, the title of a recent collage series and a double entendre, references an expression and pokes fun at our collective experience on the Web. A jumping off point for exploration and problem solving, images made with the mobile phone beg the question: What kind of art can we make with images shot on a basic technological device - our smartphones?" And what can we ultimately do with these images to make art?
The Personal Project | photopolymer intaglio monoprint ©2014-2023 roberta fineberg
What is your personal project?
Reach Out in the New Year
What are your dreams and aspirations?
Explore past programs:
Commit to yourself eepurl.com/bqFXmv
Disruptive opportunity eepurl.com/bnUBND
Light a Creative Fire eepurl.com/bnMCJf
Happy Spring! eepurl.com/bllM3P
new Kodak moment eepurl.com/bkNI-1
Now is better eepurl.com/bhUhjL
Be, surprised eepurl.com/bfomT9
Surrender, actively eepurl.com/bdgyEL
Commit to yourself eepurl.com/bckGzj
Refresh bit.ly/2queKZn
Holiday Treats eepurl.com/_VhLH
New York Stories eepurl.com/-a8m1
Fire up your creativity eepurl.com/4xQPP
rootless cosmopolitans eepurl.com/18p-z
NYC Spark Your Creativity eepurl.com/NRCcf
Spark Your Creativity Connects
Make emotional connections with your work and your audience.
Assignment: shoot nouns. People, places, and things. Ask 'What if?' and see what happens,
Street Photography with a mobile phone | Times Square | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Self-Portraiture
At the end of the evening sessions Spark Your Creativity participants try out light painting. It's a method which includes turning the camera onto yourself, making yourself the subject of a photo that embraces chance. With the camera on a tripod, release the shutter (using a self-timer) and the sensor records the LED lights waved in front of the camera. The results range from ribbons of fine light to large glowing orbs and abstract brushstrokes of light.
Night Photography: tripods in Bryant Park | Self-Portraits | photo: (c) 2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Shots in the Dark are for those who want to work with long exposure photography to capture compelling images at night.
High ISO Photography
High ISO settings are generally used in low light situations – however the cost is digital noise (grainy looking files). So goes common wisdom. It's clear that technology is advancing and it's never too late to play catch up with what high ISOs can do for you. High ISO photography works safely in situations where bright lights (artificial) meet the night. Your camera can handle ISO 1600 and you won’t see much digital noise (especially for the latest digital cameras). As long as you don't underexpose you can get good results with even older cameras (if your histogram is dipping to the right, you're probably getting a good exposure). Don't be afraid of digital noise. High ISO photography may produce compelling results. Experiment!
Dare! | South Street Seaport | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Mobile Phone Photography and The Decisive Moment
Is the smartphone camera as good as it gets? Could future versions of the camera phone replace the need for a DSLR (digital 35mm camera)? Well, let's see...
In the meantime, the technological advancements of the camera phone and its capacity for capture in low light are making mobile photography a very attractive choice for photographers.
“The decisive moment” with a mobile phone | ROTC officers at Columbus Circle | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Magic in the Moonlight
Light trails, light painting & self-portraits beneath the moonlight.
What about testing out your skills of self-portraiture at night, say, in front of the Metropolitan Art Museum on 5th Avenue in New York City? When making portraits after dark think light and backdrop. For this self-portrait the classical 1880s architecture casts a spell.
Magic in the Moonlight | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Photographing People, Places & Things
Looking at life up close with an eye on storytelling is always a good personal assignment. What stories can you tell about the 25th St Market muses in New York?
Assignment: starting at the north end of Madison Square Park (25th & Fifth) in front of the statue of admiral David Farragut, walk west to the 25th St Flea Market between Broadway and Sixth Ave. The Market is filled with ephemera, paraphernalia, nostalgia, objects, jewelry, and colorful characters. It rivals the best Marches aux Puces in Paris with its random treasures and idiosyncratic vendors.
How to capture all the details? Try a 50mm lens. Before you spend money on a new lens use what you own to capture the ecclectic array of memorabiia, antiques, and other vintage goods. Make use of the natural lighting - in strong sunlight try a polarizer to balance highlights and shadows. For the indoor garage space, test out high ISO photography.
Keywords: dare, play, contextualize.
People, Places & Things | Flea Markets | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
The Power of Imagination
New York City will forever remain an island and when we trace the city’s pathway from the East Rive to the Long Island Sound and beyond, to the Atlantic Ocean, the world encompasses a more natural habitat. Unwind via the waterways, visit the Long Island Sound, the Great and Little Peconics that lead to the Atlantic Ocean.
Mobile Phone Photography | Westhampton | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Two young boys and their caregiver build a sand castle surrounded by wading pools, an ocean, levees, a highway, Dune Road along the Atlantic Coast. With the ocean physically at their backs, the children work tirelessly. In a few short hours their creation will be flattened and rinsed clean by rising waters - in a race against time. A love of play and a commitment to be is enough.
Shall we pick up our cameras or mobile devices and ask 'what if?'
In Search of an Original Idea?
An idea is never new. It's usually old and a good idea reveals what is true and great ideas may vary in representation. For inspiration look at art, look at what you like, look at what you don't like, look at everything, and after a while you'll instinctively reach out for what moves you and maybe you’ll move other people.
We might say that we are what we see and that our pictures are representations of what we feel. Artwork breaks down barriers between people.
"Ladybird” (1936) by Eileen Agar from 'Drawing Surrealism' is a mixed-media photograph and painting, straight from the unconscious.
"Ladybird” (1936) by Eileen Agar
Urban Oases Sanctuaries
Summer in the City necessitates locating sanctuaries. Finding hidden gems of peace in the urban landscape is easier than you think. In the East Village there are 40-some-odd gardens alone, urban oases. Le Petit Versaille and The Secret Garden may entice - but some of the most enchanting sanctuaries are named after avenues, such as 6BC (6th Street btwn avenues B and C) and Sixth Street & Avenue B. In these spaces you may dream of faraway places or you may appreciate the zen in the moment, right where you are.
East Village | 6BC Botanical Garden | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Photography: Art or Science?
The goal of experimenting with 'Saper Vedere' (the art of knowing how to see) in NYC's Central Park is to refine the senses, especially sight. To heighten personal vision we engage in a playful session, this is a tribute to the Harlem Meer raccoons that enjoy visitors on a rainy evening in late summer.
Night Photography with tripods | North Central Park | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)
A photo experiment in Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) behind Gracie Mansion in Carl Schurz Park along the East River can be easily arranged. Another name for the ICM technique is a happy accident!
Experimental Photography | The RFK Bridge | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Your Inner Child
Roll on the grass in Central Park (East Meadow) while photographing your baby? Find your inner child too. Photograph children.
Photography for Families | mobile phone photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Mobile Phones and Quick Studies
Spark Your Creativity suggests using several apps and tools to expand your creative reach while documenting photo stories. The assignment becomes one in capturing mood for storytelling about people, places, and things.
En route to Bethesda Terrace, check out the Sailboat Pond in Central Park to encounter many great subjects. Assignment: look up, look down, and look all around. One tip to jumpstart your creative process!
Mobile Phone Photography Central Park | Sailboat Pond | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Mobile Phone Photography Central Park | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Mobile Phone Photography Central Park | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Photo Walk Tips
Manhattan Photo Walks on the East River | mobile phone photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Remember for your phone hunts….
Batteries
SD cards
Get to know the focal lengths for each lens you own
Try wide angle to telephoto: 18mm – 35 mm = wide angle (for landscape); 50 mm lens = good for most subjects; 70mm good for people (portraits); telephoto for getting up close and personal
Set the ISO 100-above = 100 great for sunny outdoors, 200 in the shade, 400 low light (late afternoon). Experiment with iso: shoot from, say, 100 – 1600 and see how ISO affects both shutter speed and aperture
Set the F-stop or Aperture = 3.5-4.5 (most wide angle zooms), 5.6-6.3 (telephoto zooms). Fixed prime lenses are always best.
For shallow depth of field = try 2.8
For deep depth of field = try F11
Set aperture at 5.6 = versatile for street photography
Shutter speed: Stay at minimum 1/60 (slow shutter speed) with hand held camera; to freeze motion the starting point is 1/500 (fast shutter).
For night photography = use high iso, a tripod, or strobe (flash). Times Square at midnight? Mount the camera on a tripod for 4-30 second exposures, f-stop f16.
The beach (extreme light) = expose at 1/1000 or above.
Photography is all about light, measure it and use ISO, shutter speed, aperture to your advantage.
For greater creative control, have your camera set to Manual Mode. If the going gets tough try Aperture Priority (you select the f-stop and the camera selects the shutter speed). Likewise, you can choose Shutter Speed Priority (you select the shutter speed and the camera selects aperture). Finally, Program Mode will select all (aperture and shutter) in a pinch.
Enjoy experimentation and allow your left + right brain guide you to spark your creativity.
Summer Solstice at the Harlem Meer
Recommended: a DSLR night session in low light, dusk, to dark on a balmy first night of summer at the Harlem Meer at the northern tip of Central Park
Central Park North, Harlem | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Central Park North, Harlem | photo: ©2012-2022 roberta fineberg
Central Park North, Harlem | photos: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Horn of Plenty
Times Square and mobile phones | photo: ©2012-2023 roberta fineberg
Tiny cameras. They are small and powerful and run the photographic gamut: camera phones promise to inform, entertain, enlighten, uplift, transform, and share instantaneously.